Family Ties
by Crazy Care Bear
Summary: Jack's ADA was killed, and till the DA can find a new one he's alone, until Jack gets shot. Now it's up to his new, new ADA to win the case, but Jack doesn't think she can handle it. Will she be able to prove him wrong? Or will her attempts be in vain?


All right, updated with how last season ended. enjoy

* * *

**Family Ties:**  
Never Saw it Coming

The bailiff handed the piece of paper back to the jury foreman. Judge Madison took a deep breath and asked, "Has the jury reached a decision?"

"We have, Your Honor. We find the defendant, Raymond Manteno, guilty of first degree murder."

There was chaos in the courtroom. The people on the defendant's side jumped up and started yelling angrily at the judge and the defendant looked over at John James "Jack" McCoy and yelled above the noise, "You're dead McCoy, I'll see to that!"

Jack was indifferent to the threat and walked out the courtroom alone, feeling strange without an ADA to bask in the afterglow of victory with him. A cluster of media vultures was waiting and soon surrounded Jack. "Are you happy with the verdict?" "Did Manteno really threaten your life?" "McCoy, are you concerned with the threat on your life?"

"The District Attorney's office is satisfied with the verdict. Manteno deserves maximum penalty after killing those three people, and I am not concerned with the empty threat. That is all," Jack answered the politely before pushing his way through them.

Scotch and Jack have a reputation. One is rarely seen without the other. In times of loss and gain, in victory or defeat, Jack was there with his scotch.

Many of his colleagues denounced his drinking habits, but a few supported it since they were also fond of the unexplained pleasure when they feel scotch's warm hand on their throats. However, what they all did not know was Jack got very little enjoyment out of scotch. He just drank scotch because that is what he was told big shot lawyers drank, and just like his father had wanted, he was a big shot lawyer. It's true, Jack did not detest the test of scotch, in fact he preferred it to many of the harsh liquors, but he still didn't enjoy it as much as everyone believed.

And that's why, that night, he sat behind his desk with a half empty glass of scotch because it was a time of victory and a time of loss, so he needed a drink.

This was the first case without her, and he had felt the void. There had been no one to turn to when he heard the jury read off the desired vote. No one to walk out of the courthouse with, no one to face the press with. And he needed someone there, so the critics of his drinking wouldn't become right.

Therefore, when he heard familiar footsteps, he took his hand off the glass and looked up with hidden hope at DA Arthur Branch. "So, any luck finding an ADA?" he asked, trying to sound as causal as he could manage.

"Well, I had three potential future ADAs and then you got that threat and they all backed out," Branch informed him.

"If they're going to run away at every little threat then I don't want them," Jack muttered bitterly, taking a big sip of scotch.

"You going to pour me some of that?" Branch asked rhetorically, eyeing the scotch. Jack poured him a glass and he took a sip. "Listen, Jack, not many people want to be your ADA for two reasons. One is for your reputation with your ADAs. The second is you always tend to get the more dangerous criminals. No one wants to die."

"Well, Arthur, I guess you've got your work cut out for you then." With that Jack left for his apartment.

Jack felt an urge to drink, as he walked to the courthouse alone. Manteno's sentencing hearing was in thirty minutes, something Jack would have to face alone. And as if the world was reflecting how he felt, the steps to the courthouse consisted of two people Jack, and a woman. He barely noticed her as he walked up the steps, not evening registering what she looked like. Suddenly a gunshot echoed through the nearly abandon courthouse. Jack flattened himself the ground and looked around. The woman was lying on the ground while a pool of blood formed around her.

Jack tried to crawl over to the woman to check on her. He had just barely reached her, his hand went to the bullet hole trying futility to stop the bleeding when he heard another gunshot and felt a sharp pain in his chest.


End file.
